NIA to take over Margao blast probe

The Goa government has decided to hand over the investigation of the Diwali-eve Margao blast to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) — the federal agency investigating terror cases — based on the report of the police Special Investigation Team (SIT) submitted to the State Home Ministry recently.

Sources in the Ministry confirmed to The Hindu here on Monday that the decision would be formally endorsed at a high-level meeting between Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Home Minister Ravi Naik and Director-General of Police B.S. Bassi this week.

The SIT which is investigating the blast which killed two people, and which also spotted another improvised explosive device (IED) at Sancoale village in south Goa, around 15 km from the blast site, on October 16 — submitted its report last week, official sources said.

A top source in the Ministry said: “The report is very damning and there is no doubt that these are terrorist elements and are a threat to the country. The SIT report has managed to collect evidence about plans to use not only IEDs but also sophisticated cell phone-triggered devices. This is a fit case to be investigated by the NIA set up to combat terror in the country.”